behaartvsbehaartenConfusable pair

Which to use

“behaart” and “behaarten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#23,851
“behaart” frequency rank
#37,992
“behaarten” frequency rank
61843
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature behaart behaarten
Definition Haare am Körper besitzend Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs behaart

Where the eye mixes behaart and behaarten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. behaart runs 7 letters (CVCVVCC) against behaarten's 9 (CVCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
behaart
9 ch
behaarten

Look-alike desk: behaart vs behaarten

A purely visual mix-up. behaart ([bəˈhaːɐ̯t]) and behaarten ([bəˈhaːɐ̯tn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “behaart” sits inside “behaarten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61843, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

behaart is recorded at frequency rank #23,851, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈhaːɐ̯t]. behaarten is at rank #37,992, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈhaːɐ̯tn̩].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 61843, this pair ranks #734,613 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of behaart vs behaarten

Shared letters: abehrt. Private to "behaart": -. Private to "behaarten": n.

"behaart" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC  ·  "behaarten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • behaart ← bbehaart · beahart · behaarrt · behaartt · behaatr · beharat · behart · behhaart
  • behaarten ← bbehaarten · beaharten · behaaretn · behaarrten · behaartenn · behaartne · behaartten · behaatren

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "behaart" for "behaarten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈhaːɐ̯t] versus [bəˈhaːɐ̯tn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "behaart" or "behaarten" show up more?
"behaart" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,851 in our German list, against #37,992 for "behaarten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "behaart" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "behaarten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #734,613 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "behaart" and "behaarten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "behaarten vs beharren". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #734,613 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list